This application claims priority from Korean Patent Application No. 2002-79752, filed on Dec. 13, 2002, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to a waste toner agitator which agitates waste toner in a waste toner container so that removed waste toner does not become solid.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an electrophotographic image forming apparatuses is a device which prints a desired toner image by supplying ink to an electrostatic latent image formed on a photosensitive medium by a laser scanning unit (LSU) in response to a print signal.
In addition, the electrophotographic image forming apparatus is a device which obtains a desired image by transferring a toner image onto a printing medium using a potential difference between a photosensitive medium and a transfer unit or between the transfer unit and the printing medium. However, the toner image is not completely transferred while the toner image is transferred from the photosensitive medium onto the transfer unit or while the toner image is transferred from the transfer unit onto the printing medium, and a part of the toner image remains on the photosensitive medium or the transfer unit. The waste toner is removed by a waste toner removing unit and stored in the waste toner container.
As a printing operation is performed by the electrophotographic image forming apparatus, the amount of waste toner stored in the waste toner container increases, and the waste toner remains on only a part of the waste toner container. After a certain period of time, the waste toner becomes solid. Thus, an agitator that agitates the waste toner stored in the waste toner container is required.
The waste toner agitator is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,218,132 and Japanese Patent Publication Nos. Sho 57-172366 and Hei 03-080284, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference.
FIG. 1 illustrates a structure of a waste toner agitator of an electrophotographic printer disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 03-080284.
A receiving intake 110 is provided on a top surface of a waste toner container 100. Waste toner 111 removed by a waste toner removing unit (not shown) is introduced into the receiving intake 110. The bottom surface of the waste toner container 100 is inclined at a predetermined angle. A cam member 130 is installed adjacent to the waste toner container 100. The cam member 130 is rotated by a driving unit (not shown) and contacts the waste toner container 100 whenever the cam member 130 is rotated. A spring 120 is installed opposite to the cam member 130 wherein the waste toner container 100 is placed therebetween.
If the cam member 130 contacts the waste toner container 100, the spring 120 is compressed, and if the cam member 130 is separated from the waste toner container 100, the waste toner container 100 returns to its original position by an elastic energy of the spring 120. This phenomenon occurs whenever the cam member 130 is rotated. Thus, if the cam member 130 is consecutively rotated, the waste toner container 100 moved to the left and right, as indicated by arrow Z in FIG. 1, and the waste toner 111 is agitated.
In a conventional waste toner agitator having the above structure, the cam member is driven using an additional driving unit. Thus, the driving unit and the cam member have to be connected to each other. As a result, the structure of the conventional waste toner agitator becomes complicated, and manufacturing costs increase.
In addition, the waste toner agitator shakes the waste toner container and agitates the waste toner stored in the waste toner container. Thus, the waste toner may leak out of the waste toner container.